Management Dispute: Who Is Right for RV Show?

By Jillian Dauer -- Tradeshow Week, 6/12/2006

As one of the world's largest facility managers, SMG certainly never expected to find itself embroiled in a dispute over a show's management.

Nevertheless, it is. The South Carolina Recreational Vehicle Assn. has broken its 35-year tie with the Greenville Boat & RV Show held each year at the Palmetto Expo Center (in Greenville, S.C.), managed by SMG since 2003. SMG says there was never a tie to break.

"There is no formal relationship between the official association and the show," said John Wilusz, SMG's general manager of the center.

Built 42 years ago to house a textile machinery show, the Palmetto Expo Center now finds itself at the center of the debate. In the summer of 2001, the city purchased the facility and its assets after the bankruptcy of its original owner, Textile Hall.

Along with the 368,000 square foot exhibit hall, Greenville acquired two consumer shows: the Greenville Boat & RV Show and the Holiday Fair. Shortly after the deal was consummated, the city hired SMG to manage the center — and the shows.

"We've never really been into the show management business per se," said Gregg Caren, vice president of operations and business development for SMG. "We do what our clients need us to do."

In May 2005, the South Carolina Recreational Vehicle Dealers Assn., which sponsors and helps promote the Greenville Boat & RV Show, approached SMG about dividing it into two separate events.

The boat and RV show was attracting many attendees who weren't interested in RVs, said Ron Plemmons, executive director of the SCRVDA. "We went to the center as an association and proposed that the RV dealers separate from the RV and boat show and hold their own event at the center in February or March."

Wilusz was receptive. "I said, 'Yes, we'll look into it,'" he recalled.

It was no secret that planned renovations for the center called for a decrease in the amount of exhibit space, meaning there probably wouldn't be enough room for the show in its present configuration.

"Textile Hall had a successful show that made a lot of money and ran out of space, so they kept building and adding on," Wilusz said. "Now the building has excess capacity."

SMG called a meeting with the boat dealers, who agreed that independent boat and RV events made sense. According to Wilusz, the RV dealers wanted to hold their show as early as possible to jump-start their sales. He said SMG told the association it had mid-January dates available.

Terry Masters, the RV dealers association president and an exhibitor at the event, said the group didn't want January dates because of the danger of inclement weather. Instead, he suggested giving the early dates to the marine dealers and having the proposed RV show during the combined show's traditional February dates.

The RV dealers and SMG settled on March. By January the association had committed to 150,000 sq. ft. until the dates changed again.

Wilusz said he had planned to move another show already scheduled for the March dates from Hall C to Hall A, freeing up halls C and D for the RV show. After researching construction plans available at that time, Wilusz was told that Hall A would close March 1 to begin the demolition process, making it impossible to move the pre-existing show.

In the end, a combined RV-boat show was held Feb. 2–5, just as it had been in the past.

Masters estimated that 25 percent of the 350,000 gross sq. ft. show was historically occupied by the RV dealers. This year though, some cut back their space. Masters, who typically displays 25 to 30 units in a 12,000 to 14,000 sq. ft. booth, only brought 12 units to a booth less than half the usual size.

A separate event wasn't the only thing on the association's wish list. It also wanted to manage the new show. "We want to make it an association show," Masters said.

Already, the association puts on its own show at the Palmetto Expo Center each August, and another one in February in Columbia, S.C. In both cases, only association members are allowed to exhibit. Currently, the summer show is still booked at Palmetto Aug. 11–13.

SMG, however, doesn't feel it has the authority to simply hand the show over to the association. "It is the property of the city. (If) the combination show was an asset of the city, then so are the individual components," Wilusz said. "Their fight is with the city, not us."

The association maintains that it isn't quite clear who it is fighting.

Masters said he has heard conflicting accounts from SMG officials about who owns the show, but Wilusz said, "We have never, ever said that (SMG owns it)."

The association has several reasons for wanting to control the event.

According to Plemmons, over the years the show has become more expensive for exhibitors and yet produces fewer and fewer sales leads. "At its height in the 1980s, there were 22,000 to 24,000 attendees," Masters said. "There were 12,000 attendees at the 2006 show."

SMG's records indicate that the show's attendance peaked in 1994 with 24,000 attendees. The 2002 show, managed by former employees of Textile Hall, attracted 17,938 attendees while the 2003 show, SMG's first effort, drew a crowd of 15,239. Attendance bounced back to 19,119 in 2004. The past two years saw attendance dip into the 12,000-to-13,000 range because, Wilusz said, it conflicted with Super Bowl weekend.

Plemmons and Masters think the association could produce its own show more cost effectively.

Wilusz said SMG has increased space rental costs at the boat and RV show during the four years it has managed the center, from 91 cents to $1.20 per square feet for exhibitors who use more than 500 sq. ft.

"But those rates are half of any regional competitive show," Wilusz said. "If the association is willing to accept little or no profit off the show, they can produce it for less. But if SMG decreases the space rate, then it won't meet its budget."

The association also feels that SMG does not have the experience necessary to manage a show. "It would be more efficient for us to do it ourselves, because we know the industry," Plemmons said.

But, SMG said, it is working hard to do a good job with the show. It has a separate staff that manages the events at Palmetto, including a show manager who is a veteran of the New York Intl. Auto Show. Past show managers have come from Reed Exhibitions and Vance Publishing.

"Our cumulative experience outweighs theirs," Wilusz said. "They think we're the new kids on the block without experience, but the people in charge do have experience."

"If the show wasn't doing well, the city wouldn't want us to do it," added Caren.

The city has been "extremely delighted by the service provided by SMG," Greenville City Manager Jim Bourey said.

Bourey acknowledged that the city could have hired an outside company that specializes in show management to run the events, but that's not how it had been done in the past. He added that getting a second company involved would mean less revenue for the city.

Just as the association has its reasons for wanting to run the show, SMG has its reasons too.

"They're a profit sector within our operation," Wilusz said. "It's more advantageous for us to continue to manage those events than to rent the space out."

With renovations the center is shrinking, so there will probably never be another combined RV and boat show held at the Palmetto Expo Center. But there may be more than one RV show in the area. SMG is now holding dates in late January 2007 for a boat-only show and dates in late March for an RV-only show.

The association is also looking for another venue for its own show in February 2007. Plemmons said his group would likely pick an outdoor site, but can't say for sure that it will be in Greenville.

"The association has the right to create its own event and hold it somewhere else," Wilusz said.

Caren managed to find a silver lining in the situation. "The split will allow each component to grow," he said.

Still, neither SMG nor the dealers association believes the Greenville market can accommodate two winter RV shows. Wilusz said, "I don't think both will succeed."

Masters agreed, but believes the association will prevail. "Virtually all dealers in the state are members of the association, and will go wherever the association goes," Plemmons said.